Nike Inc takes pride in being an ethical company. Nike places their responsibility to their stakeholders, internal and external, at the top of their priority list. They expend great of time, money, and resources to ensure that they are fulfilling their ethical duty, and achieving the highest standards of ethical responsibility. Because of Nike’s efforts to maintain their ethical integrity, Nike is a good corporate citizen.
Nike’s motto says that Nike Inc was founded on a handshake. Their goal from the beginning was to build business with their partners based on trust, teamwork, honestly, and mutual respect. “Nike has a commitment to management practices that respect the rights of all employees, including the right to free association and collective bargaining, a commitment to minimizing their impact on the environment, providing a safe and healthy work place, and promoting the health and well-being of all employees.” This is Nike’s code of conduct; which is translated and posted in all major Nike workplaces across the world, which exemplifies the commitment to ethics and the Nike stakeholders ("Nike's Labor Practices." , ICMR. 2002).
Nike views all of its stakeholders as important components to the success and sustainability of Nike Inc. According to the Stanford Research Institute in 1963, a stakeholder is a member of a group whose support is necessary for the firm to continue to exist. In other words, a stakeholder is any group that has a vested interest in operations of a firm (Stanwick 35). In Nike’s code of ethics, three stakeholders are mentioned. The stakeholders that are mentioned in the code of conduct are management, employees, and the environment. If it were not for those three components, Nike would not be able t...
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Sweatshops are similar to factory or workshop where workers work for long hours at very low wages and are forced to work in a poor working condition. Sweatshops have also been known widely in the world for its ethical issues. Although it seems to be lucrative by paying low wages to the workers, it still violates the fundamental requirements of the workers’ welfare and working condition. From the perspective of the businesses, paying low wages means reducing the cost of production and increasing in the profits.
Mega brands like Nike have been described as mediums for of globalization and technology for years. Nike being a flexible brand, elevated to the next level. The end results for Nike was innovating ad campaigns, superstars like basketball legend Michael Jordan, expansion of mega stores such as Nike Town, and Nike World campus. The Nike swoosh is meanwhile believed to be the most recognizable brand icon or corporate logo, conveying "Nike" without the need of words. The swoosh was designed by a university student attending a class taught by Nike CEO Phil Knight. (Amran et al., 2014).
Globalization among companies has been increasing due to the high potential profits and the lower costs of labor and resources. Venturing to other countries, which have lower costs of lower costs of living, can support their families on lower salaries. Companies that don’t have to spend as much on salaries and benefits are a great way for the company to save money and increase their profits. When looking to other countries to expand to, they will need to review their value chain to make sure they are able to keep their same values with their expansion.
Nike, Inc. is a well-known American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing and worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services.(Nike.com) They are a the trademark of their industry and set the bar for most of their competitors. As many already know, Nike is a major sponsor of the athletic programs across the country. These programs range from small to large Universities.
Nike’s sweatshop manufacturing practices which can be seen through media have shown people that this company goes under the good guys images, these images which are displayed in their commercials show people that their employees are treated well and their happy in their working environment.
Nike has always been a company that's been questioned ethically. People have heard about the stories of the sweatshops in Southeast Asia exploiting adolescent employees for unreasonably small amounts of money. This had blemished Nike’s reputation several years ago, but since then, it has strived to become a truly respectable company. Located on Nike's website you can find Phil Knight's credo about ethics. It is as follows:
Nike is one of the biggest footwear and apparel manufacturing companies in the word. The company came into existence in 1964 by Bill Boweman and Phil Knight and named it as the Blue Ribbon Sports. The company changed the name to Nike, which is Greek word meaning victory, in 1972 after producing a good brand of shoes that became popular among the athletes (NIKE, Inc., 2001). Since then, the company has been successful, dominating the world market of athletic shoes. The company’s products are sold in more than 170 countries across the world. The company also sponsors various sports events at national and international levels. The company slogan “just do it” is catchy and attract many people tom buying its products. This makes the company to grow continuously due to wide and stable customer base.
Many global companies like Nike, Inc. are seen as role models both in the market place as well as in society in large. That is why they are expected to act responsibly in their dealings with humanity and the natural world. Nike benefits from the global sourcing opportunities, therefore areas such as production and logistics have been outsourced to partner companies in low-wage countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. As a result the company is limited nowadays to its core competencies of Design and Marketing.
Phil Knight started his shoe company by selling shoes from the back of his car. As he became more successful in 1972 he branded the name Nike. In the 1980’s Nike Corporation quickly grew and established itself as a world leader in manufacturing and distributing athletic footwear and sports' attire. The Nike manufacturing model has followed is to outsource its manufacturing to developing nations in the Asia Pacific, Africa, South and Latin Americas; where labor is inexpensive. It quickly became known for its iconic “swoosh” and “Just do it” advertisements and products. Its highly successful advertising campaigns and brand developed its strong market share and consumer base. But, the road has not always been easy for Nike; in the late 1990’s they went through some challenging times when their brand become synonymous with slave wages and child labor abuses. During this period, Nike learned that it paramount that the company understands its stakeholders’ opinions and ensures their values are congruent with their stakeholders. Nike learned that their stakeholders were concerned with more than buying low cost products; their customers were also concerned with ethical and fair treatment of their workers. Because Nike was unwilling to face the ethical treatment of its employees, the company lost its loyal customers and damaged its reputation. Nike has bounced back since the late 1990’s and revived its reputation by focusing on its internal shortfalls and attacking its issues head on. Nike nearly collapsed from its missteps in the late 1990’s. They have learned from their mistakes and taken steps to quickly identify ethical issues before they become a crisis through ethics audits. This paper is based on the case study of Nike: From Sweatsh...
In this Case Study Analyses, an objective SWOT Analyses will be done to help identify potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within the Nike Corporation.
In my point of view, the most unethical Nike’s decision is not to take the responsibility to ensure at least minimum and humane standards that it should offer to its work force. For example, in Vietnam, Nike paid its workers less than the cost of three meals of rice and vegetables and tofu. It treated workers no better than in sweatshops with only two drinks of water and one bathroom break in an eight hour shift. Also Nike let its contractors in developing countries to use child labor under sub-standard conditions. On the other hand, the least unethical Nike’s decision is to have a TV commercial featured a Manchester United player explaining how spitting at a fan and insulting a coach won him a Nike contract.
Nike is a multinational corporation with a brand that is recognizable worldwide. For the following paper I will conduct be conducting a social media audit, and evaluating the social media strategies currently being used by Nike. Nike is American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. As of 2012, it employed more than 44,000 people worldwide. The brand alone is valued at $10.7 billion, making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. The company was founded on January 25, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1978. (Wikipedia, 2013)
Nike is the number one innovator in the world in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories. This worldwide company operates in an extremely different organizational structure than other companies, such as Reebok and Adidas. Nike operates tremendous marketing strategies and develops inventive designs to inspire athletes around the world. This company is one of the largest suppliers in the world in athletic footwear and apparel, main producer of sports equipment, and making Nike the most valuable brand among sports companies. The task for Nike is to join diversity and inclusion to encourage ideas and innovation. Around the world, this company is a popular brand.
Nike has suffered attacks from a number of agencies and organizations throughout the world that claim that the workers who manufacture Nike shoes are denied the basic essentials of living—a fair wage and decent benefits. All that occurs while several sport megastars are reaping in multimillion dollar contracts to promote Nike shoes. Over the years, Nike formulated tactics to deal with the problems of working conditions and compensation in subcontractors. It hired a strong consultant (Andrew Young), commissioned an independent audit of its subcontractors, and spelled out initiatives to improve those working conditions. Still, Nike’s critics were not satisfied. They protested on university campuses and accused Nike of continuing to hide the conditions of workers.
America is a birthplace of NIKE Company. Nike’s workplace consists of a leader, visionaries and experienced employees who are very passionate to maintain the status ...